After Gokarna we headed Sth, keeping to the coast to suck in those lung-fulls of precious salty air. Right now I can't give exact details of where we went (I don't have the maps on me) but I'm sure it was beautiful... we then headed inland thanks to a great tip-off from Sim and Emy. Endless rows of Coconut palms swaying in the breeze gave way to rubber plantations, gave way to coffee bush's and finally gave way to copious amounts of tea plantations! I felt like we were driving through an endless manicured garden. The roads winded up, up, up, mirroring our spirits. We drove through National Parks which seemed like perfect habitats for a tiger - huge clumps of tangled bamboo, winding rivers, lantana and other unrecognizable bush's. We did not glimpse the mighty creature, but our eyes were graced with the Indian national bird - the peacock. As we ran out of light we found a wee little government run dormitory which we called home for 2 nights. The next day we had a choice of 30km's or 60km's to Ooty, so of course we tried the short-cut which was not on the map. This turned out to be the most windy road we've ever ventured on - round a hair-pin corner, UP, round a hair-pin corner, UP! In Ooty we visited a museum where over 100 species of flowers/plants have been made out of thread - so kitsch. The staff there were lovely and we finished the tour with a discussion on religion. The main man thought we must be Christian (like him) since we were western, but we disappointed him by telling him we were athiest. After discussing this for some time I tried to finish the conversation by telling him that I felt as long as I did positive things in the world, helped people whenever I can and was generally a good person then my religion should not matter. His 2 women assistants who were Hindu gave us a big round of applause... then back down the extraordinarily windy road where Mendo and Shepa had lots of fun and back through the National Park when: STOP! A mightily big black wild elephant. It took our breath away... and we slowed down Shepa who happened to cut out so we were stopped 20 metres from a huge wild beast. I got off the back and took a couple of photo's whilst Mendo started up Shepa again. By the time I took my second photo the elephant was looking aggressive and some other cars had stopped. Whilst we reluctantly took off we saw a policeman hitting one of the drivers of the car with a big stick for stopping... glad that wasn't us. The next day we took the longer way to Ooty, through a National Park again and saw Peacocks in trees, fighting spotted deer and (Gracey this is for you) a SLOTH! (unfortunately didn't get evidence of this because by the time I realised, we were too far gone) We then went up up up again to a gorgeous lookout called Dodda Beta where we felt we were swimming in the clouds. I tried a street stall cooked corn but he didn't steam it so it was like eating the hard corn before you 'pop' it... not recommended. The road down to the plains below was spectacular - SOOOOOO many beautiful shades of green exist: grey green, grass green, blue green, white with green reflected in it, deep green that's nearly black, fresh new tea leaf green... and all this whilst riding on the curvey roads above the clouds. Then down into the heat of Trissur, and eventually Fort Cochin to be welcomed by the 3 dalmations and Teapot the cat.